With Strings Attached Album Review

On November 3 2012, Tiki Taane, his whanau and friends came together in Old St Paul’s Church in Wellington to record and film the live album With Strings Attached (Alive & Orchestrated) which was released just in time for the end of those long hot summer days and breezy nights.

With the help of NZ On Air and TVNZ crew, they were able to capture the power of Tiki who arranged a musically stunning collaboration with backing from The Dub Soldiers, kapahaka group Te Pou O Mangatawhiri and a string orchestra to add depth to a soulful performance. The 18 orchestral musicians are all members of the NZ Symphony Orchestra to add a layer of sophistication to all our old Tiki Taane Favourites.

The orchestrated versions of Always On My Mind and Love Your Ways, which he wrote with band Salmonella Dub are classics that lose nothing with this new interpretation. Summertime featuring MC Tali is on the album along with an opening karakia from Tiki’s father Uekaha Taane Tinorau, not to mention so many other talented musicians including Shapeshifter’s PDigsss, Sambora, Nicky and Reno, Jason Johnston (Jakob), and magnificent vocalist Ria Hall. So many compoents on this album have beauty in their own right, but Tiki has managed to bring them all together on a bigger scale and the outcome is nothing short of spectacular. Throw in a cheeky sense of humour and you have an album that is hard to fault for what it was created to be.

An expansion into new musical stylings also adds a certain comfort with trying new things, Tiki has written a song called Starship Lullaby, his son Charlie that he added to the album. It also features mystical tracks like Tangaroa, Whakakotahi, for listeners to connect with the origin of Tiki’s love of music. Nana’s Song if like that too,  it “is an adaptation of Past Present Future, and it’s an important song for my whanau – my aunty passed away last year, and my sister played that song to her over and over as she passed on, and I can imagine doing something like that with my Dad as well, and maybe for me when it’s my time to move on. But it’s also for everyone, it’s an opportunity to think about those important people in your life.” Freedom To Sing is another song that is an expression of freedom of speech which was written after Taane was arrested in 2011 for singing NWA’s F**k The Police at a Tauranga concert, and charged with “disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence”. “I’m so proud of this project and excited to release it for you all to hear,” says Tiki. “I hope you enjoy this album as much as we did making it.”